3 stars: Pulls from many sources but filters the bulk of ads. No pay walls to battle like some other apps. Nice! \
3 stars: Dont like the update, too much empty space on both sides of the rather small looking stories. Not good for landscape devices. Another update. Now when I am reading an article, this \
3 stars: Layout is fine, but the app is very slow loading articles and going back and forth. 2021.06: Now the speed is ok but the app is a big mess. Moreover, it does not support all languages and regions as before
4 stars: A few problems with the comment sections occasionally causing huge voids when hitting the link 'view more comments' which moves with the comment section restricting the viewing area by about 70%. (Using the night mode so could be black unreadable txt on a black background. May test if board.)
5 stars: Plenty of helpful notifications. I have a free notifications capture app running, so I can pick and choose what MS News item I want to look at. These articles taken from Washington Post, NY Times, USA Today, Politico, Wall Street Journal, etc., and no pay wall either.
4 stars: The only thing I would see as better with the less repetition within each issue of the same story, sometimes in different format and less repetition over several days of the same 'breaking news'. Few things can truly be 'breaking news' for more than a day or two.
5 stars: I loved smartnews until the ads became so intrusive that it literally chased me off the app...